Every Picture Tells a Story

"Hannah and friends" by Janet Brown

Originally billed as a panel competition, this was changed to a stand alone PI competition due to a lack of interest in panels within the clubs members. Each person could enter 4 separate PIs for “Every Picture Tells a Story”, and the 3 year rule was waived, certainly allowing Ray to enter a 40 year old image.

When the idea of titles came up at committee level,

at first it was suggested that these should be a maximum of three words only, then someone mooted no titles. I thought this was a great idea, allowing the picture to tell it's own story, and also because I am hopeless at coming up with snappy titles. As soon as the evening started I realised this was a bad idea! Instead of jotting down the title for each image, I was left with writing a description of the image before noting down the judge's comments. In hindsight, perhaps seeing a title after the judge had interpreted the image would have been more interesting? Anyway, I've made up these titles, so apologies if you don't recognise your images!

Anyway, Roger Bathard as our judge rose to the occasion of trying to see the story in each image, sometimes fairly closely, with others he was way off the mark! It was probably the hardest brief we have given a judge, and produced a varied evening, with comments mainly being Roger's interpretation of the story. 18 photographers entered, giving 72 images to see, and 18 images scored 18 or over, with 10 being held back.

18s went to:

  • Liz Barber for 'Two Bikes Crashing', which was well taken. “Just come off my bike again... lost the race... and that's more money”.
  • Daisy Kane for 'Boy and dogs-ball-swimming pool'. Judge loved the expression of the dog and the reflections.
  • Audrey Gray for the held back 'Sheep and dog' with “the handler appearing to have trouble keeping everything under control”. Judge liked the 3 or 4 elements all well separated.
  • John Gauvin for 'Frowning lady'. Judge loved the expression on her face as perhaps she was getting directions?
  • Audrey again for 'Boy and Lego', where the interpretation was a cut thumb...
  • Paul Hayward for 'Toothless Grin', a great image with good light under the hat, but “someone who definitely needs to see a dentist”.
  • Sarah Beard for 'Camera and books'. “So many books and I still can't understand it”.
  • Derek Grieve for 'Spitfire', a lovely image of a plane with lots of stories to tell.

19s:

  • Jane Coward for 'Man and 2 dogs'. Judge liked this because the man looked like his dogs, and it had nice lighting and a good background.
  • Janet Brown for 'Bob Marley'. Judge liked the black lady looking at the painting of a black man, and she was in a nice position in the frame.
  • Paul Hayward again for 'Boy with funny face'. Judge liked the expression on his face “I can do a better one”, and the diffused background.
  • Paul yet again for 'Prayer wheels'. A good image that made the judge think, possibly “I want to get out of here”. (Reminder to Paul: you're good at this, keep them coming next season!)
  • Derek Grieve again for 'Dogs with ball on beach', with a nice reflection in the water. “Throw this ball one more time”,
  • Janet again for 'The Rescue', (typically a kayaking one) with good detail in the water. “Where's my mate gone?”
  • John Gauvin again for 'Camels and Men', a good image with the man sitting his camel backwards, entertaining the judge.

There were three 20s:

  • First up was Chris West with 'McDonalds', showing a large lady and skinny little girl, possibly asking for a burger to which Mum is saying “Look at the size of me now, no you can't have one”.
  • Next up was 'Wrinkled Oriental lady' from that man Paul Hayward again. Judge loved the expression on her face, and the stories she could tell about her life.
  • Finally, and best of the night was Janet again with 'Hannah and friends'. Judge liked the expressions on all their faces, and that we can see what they are all looking at.

 

Embarrassingly, I have to congratulate myself again. For me, the funniest bit of the evening was the image of men with a cockerel. The comments descended below the belt, and there was a lot of laughter. Afraid I didn't note down whose this was, but all credit to them. I am so proud to belong to such a fun camera club!

Submitted by Janet Brown on